Showdown on the range: Nevada rancher, feds face off over cattle grazing rights

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Something about this whole deal just doesn't smell right, i'm not quite ready to take sides on this one.

The guy used to pay the fees like other ranchers once Reagan signed the bill into law.

At the end of the day the story goes like this. Cliven Bundy, whether he likes them or not, stopped paying the mandatory fines and taxes since 1993. Reports show that Bundy did pay those fines when they became law in 1986 when Republican Ronald Reagan issued it via an executive order. Bundy also didn't seem to mind paying them through the George H.W Bush's time in office, but suddenly stopped when Democrat Bill Clinton took office. Whether the number is what the federal government says it is at $1 million or it's closer to the $300,000 that Bundy claims, Cliven Bundy has proven to be one thing, a freeloading moocher who thinks he is above the law.

This article points some things out about Harry Reid and the head of the BLM:

The head of the Federal Bureau of Land Management is none other than Neil Kornze, Democrat Senator Harry Reid’s former Chief of Staff. It’s no exaggeration to say that Kornze has the job as a ‘Reid appointment.’

I do know one thing. Mesquite, NV is home to a lot of retirees. We have people from Mesquite that spend the summer in my town so they can cool off, it's already almost 100 during the day there. Mesquite is the home to a lot of seasonal guests (snowbirds) that were pretty upset and scared at all of this attention and the militia groups showing up. I think they will lose some business next year.

Many of the local residents of Mesquite that were interviewed on the news supported the Bundy's but they all might go to the same Mormon church. They did find a few people that did not agree and they choose not to be on camera, I don't blame them.

It had a lot more to do with a turtle, the guy defaulted on the fees. Other ranchers pay the fees.

“He’s still making these arguments about how the federal courts don’t have jurisdiction because the United States doesn’t own the land in question,” Dan Greenberg, an attorney and president of the Advance Arkansas Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for public policy based on the principles of limited government, told TheBlaze.

“He’s losing on all these claims,” Greenberg said, noting that Bundy’s arguments have already been rejected twice by the courts. “Unfortunately for him, his arguments – that he simply doesn’t recognize federal authority – will not be recognized in the courts. … The legal theory here that Mr. Bundy’s using is radical in its implications.”

The water is getting rather muddy in this situation. Big Government is saying his cattle are trespassing on land reserved for an endangered desert tortoise and he hasn't been paying his fees for grazing. Bundy is stating his family homesteaded the land sometime in the 1870s.

My thoughts:
1. So...pay the fees then what? Screw the tortoise?
2. Why so much man power?
3. Why isn't the Bundy ' s claim being addressed?
4. The land has a good portion of water on it. Is this a land grab for water rights?

I'm wanting to support Bundy, but I don't think he legally owns the land. Land ownership in this country comes from buying land or having it given to you as a gift. It's legally in your name. It doesn't come from your family working the fields for years. Bundy could have gotten permits all these years instead of protesting to prove a point.

With that said, I think the federal government has gone too far and should back off. I think Reid should retire and never talk politics again.

I'm wanting to support Bundy, but I don't think he legally owns the land. Land ownership in this country comes from buying land or having it given to you as a gift. It's legally in your name. It doesn't come from your family working the fields for years. Bundy could have gotten permits all these years instead of protesting to prove a point.

With that said, I think the federal government has gone too far and should back off. I think Reid should retire and never talk politics again.

Question to you, Lanie. How do you feel about Democrats speaking out against this(like Reid) who keep bringing up the rule of law and how we can't choose what laws we will obey?